While
some cities only recognize their anniversaries once
every 100 years, some sesquicentennial board members
said celebrating the town's 150th just made sense.
"By not waiting another
50 years to celebrate the town's heritage, a lot of
history that could be lost can be retained, according
to Rodney Kemp, history chairman on the celebration
board. We're able to capture some history that needs
to be recorded, mostly since 1957...There are people
who are alive and well that were at the '57 celebration,"
he said.
The biggest events will
take place May 12-19, 2007, and will be coordinated
with the Morehead City Homes Tour, according to D.J.
Femia-Leeuwenburg, events chairman on the sesquicentennial
board. And, although the events are in the early planning
stages, they will include a town homecoming with a possible
performance by the NC Symphony, a street party and a
"decade parade" highlighting Morehead City's
changes over the years. |
While
the anniversary blowout will take place in May, there
will also be a few events in the months before, including
a fund-raising train ride from a nearby town into
Morehead City. "People forget that this was a
railroad town before it was a fishing town,"
Ms. Femia-Leeuwenburg said."The railroad and
port are both economically key to our town, and we
want to try to focus on that some through the events."
"A
cookbook full of local recipes, a yearbook and a commemorative
quilt are also in the works," she said. "Our
goal is just to have fun and to celebrate our town.
And we want anybody and everybody who wants to be
involved in this to do so."
The celebration is
also an effort to help people remember not only their
own, but their town's heritage, Mayor Jones said. "We're
trying to capture verbal history," he said, "not
just official history, but how history is seen through
the eyes of the people who lived it. This is something
to share with future generations.
|
